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REVIEW: Sinderella – Motherwell Theatre

Capitalising on the British public’s insatiable appetite for all things Drag, producer Joseph Purdy has brought adult pantomime to the nation this winter with their naughty fairy-tale Sinderella, starring UK drag royalty Divina De Campo as the evil Baroness DDC and RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Stacey Layne Matthews as the Fairy Drag Henny.

Essentially it has all the elements of the traditional Christmas pantomime tale: wicked step-mother; two ugly sisters; Buttons, the lovelorn side-kick; Dandini; Prince Charming and our heroine Cinders. There are colourful sets and lavish costumes, dance routines and high energy pop hits, however, that’s where the similarities with the family story start and end. Not for the faint-hearted, it’s an innuendo-packed smut fest from start to finish. That said, it is absolutely hilarious and the hugely talented cast feed off the audience energy so much with quick-fire asides, it all runs 45 mins over the running time.

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Queen Divina is a polished pro, from head to foot, word, note and step perfect, De Campo is phenomenally talented and adds that extra level of gloss on top of the glitter-sprinkled festivities. Davey Hooper has the stand-up comedian’s gift of audience manipulation as the cheeky Buttons and US Drag favourite Stacey Layne Matthews is in fine form but croaky voice as the Fairy Drag Henny, often looking slightly bewildered at the insanity that is UK pantomime. Worthy of note are our two ugly sisters Jamie Campbell – THE Jamie of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie fame and Troy Harris – are truly fantastic, Harris in particular is a superstar in the making. Britain’s Got Talent’s Rob King and Ibiza Weekender’s David Potts, give it their all to round out the cast as Prince Charming and Dandini.

Combining two of Britain’s best-loved entertainment traditions – drag and panto – means that it’s no surprise that this is a sell-out success. Bawdy British fun at its best.